Betts (AL) Yelich (NL) win MVP honors. Yanks finish 12, 19, 20 and 22. Final AFL stats for Yanks’ prospects.

Mookie Betts of Boston won the AL MVP quite handily, getting 28 of the 30 first place votes. Mike Trout of the Angels finished as the runnerup for the fourth time (Trout has won the award twice). Trout got one first place vote, and Betts’ teammate, J.D. Martinez, who finished fourth, got the other.

As for Yankees, Aaron Judge finished 12th, Giancarlo Stanton 19th, Didi Gregorius finished in a tie for 20th (he was also 20th last year) and Aaron Hicks finished in a tie for 22nd.

Christian Yelich of Milwaukee won the NL MVP, getting 29 of the 30 first place votes (the only other one going to Jacob DeGrom of the Mets, who finished fifth). Javier Baez of the Cubs was the runnerup.

The Glendale Desert Dogs Arizona Fall League season is over with a 12-18 record. Here is how Yankees’ prospects did:

SS Thairo Estrada .238-0-7
1B Steven Sensley .197-0-9
CF Estevan Florial .178-0-8

SP Jordan Foley 0-2, 9.15
RP Hobie Harris 1-0, 4.20
RP Matt Wivinis 0-1, 1.50
RP Kyle Zurak 0-1, 11.57

 

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Snell wins AL CYA, DeGrom NL. Severino finishes 9th.

Blake Snell of Tampa Bay won the AL CYA, and Jake DeGrom of the Mets won the NL CYA today.

DeGrom won the CYA despite a 10-9 record. His Mets’ team gave him NO run support despite him posting a 1.70 ERA, striking out 269 in 217 IP, and having an ERA+ of 216. He was ALMOST unanimous, one voter going for Max Scherzer of Washington instead. Aaron Nola of the Phillies finished third.

For Snell, he went 21-5, 1.89. He led MLB in wins, the AL in ERA, 1.89, and struck out 221 in 180+ IP. His adjusted ERA+ of 219 led all of MLB. He barely beat out Justin Verlander of Houston for the honor.

Patrick Corbin, a prime free agent target for the Yankees, finished fifth.

Luis Severino of the Yankees, who went 19-8, 3.39, finished 9th in the CYA voting. Last year, he finished 3rd. He got one fifth place vote.

MVP awards announced tomorrow.

Apparently, from different sources, Manny Machado’s attitude and actions during the postseason are weighing heavily on whether the Yanks will sign him.

 

 

Boone 5th for AL MOY. Melvin wins. Snitker wins in NL. CYA winners announced today.

Bob Melvin of the A’s won the AL Manager of the Year Award. It’s the third time he has won the award. Alex Cora of the WS Champion Red Sox was the runnerup.

Aaron Boone of the Yankees got two third-place votes and finished fifth in the AL voting.

The NL MOY was Brian Snitker of the Atlanta Braves.

Winning a lot of games, as Boone did (100) or Cora (108) doesn’t necessarily get you the award. Usually it goes to a manager whose team did far better than expected. The Braves improved by 18 games, from 72 to 90 wins to win the NL East. The A’s improved by 22 games, from 75 to 97 wins, to gain the second wild card slot this year.

Tonight, the CYA winners will be announced.

Managers of the Year selected today. … and what is or isn’t a rookie?

Awards week continues as the Managers of the Year will be named tonight.

With last night’s win of the AL ROY by Shohei Ohtani, it once again begs the question of when a Japanese player comes to the U.S. and MLB, what is and what isn’t a rookie?

Ohtani won because of his two-way play, not only hitting .285-22-61, 10 SB, OPS+ 152 in 104 games, but also going 4-2, 3.31, ERA+ 126 in 10 starts before his elbow blew out. That was enough to beat out the Yankees’ Miguel Andujar, who hit .297-27-92, OPS+ 126, but who had defensive liabilities.

The vote wasn’t as close as maybe it should have been. 25 first place votes to 5. (The Yankees’ Gleyber Torres finished third, but received no first place votes).

Because of his two-way status, I really feel that as long as Ohtani didn’t fall flat on his face, and he didn’t, that the novelty of being the first true two-way player since Babe Ruth almost 100 years ago would win him the award, and it did.

Ohtani had spent five years in the “Japanese major leagues” though. Other Japanese players have won the Rookie of the Year Award after coming over to the U.S., notably Ichiro Suzuki, who won both the AL ROY and AL MVP in 2001.

But what about 2003, when Hideki Matsui was denied the award in part because people felt he wasn’t a “rookie”, because he had spent 10 years in the “Japanese majors”?

The inconsistency of the BBWAA is still astonishing.

Of course, in a couple of months, some members will prove their ignorance in how they voted in the HOF voting.

 

Andujar, Torres finish 2-3 in ROY. Ohtani wins. NL goes to Acuna.

Shohei Ohtani’s two-way performance earned him the AL ROY award as he got 25 of the 30 first place votes to win the AL ROY with 137 points.

Yankees’ 3b Miguel Andujar got the other 5 first place votes and had 89 points.

Yankees’ 2B Gleyber Torres finished 3rd with 25 points.

AL Rookie of the Year Voting, 1st-2nd-3rd placed votes, total points

 

 

Shohei Ohtani, LAA	25	4		137
Miguel Andujar, NYY	5	20	4	89
Gleyber Torres, NYY		3	16	25
Joey Wendle, TB		3	8	17
Daniel Palka, CWS			1	1
Ryan Yarbrough, TB			1	1

The NL Rookie of the Year was Ronald Acuna of the Braves.

NL Rookie of the Year Voting 1st-2nd-3rd place votes and total points.

Ronald Acuna Jr., ATL	27	3		144
Juan Soto, WSH	2	26	1	89
Walker Buehler, LAD	1	1	20	28
Brian Anderson, MIA			4	4
Jack Flaherty, STL			2	2
Harrison Bader, STL			1	1
Yoshihisa Hirano, ARI			1	1
Jeff McNeil, NYM			1	1

Awards week. Today, ROY.

It’s Awards week. Awards will be announced at 6 PM eastern.

Today (Monday): Rookies of the year. In the AL, Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels are in the top 3.

Tuesday: Managers of the Year.

Wednesday: Cy Young Awards.

Thursday: MVPs.

 

70 years after his death, the Babe gets the Presidential Medal of Freedom honor.

From ESPN.com:

President Donald Trump has included three sports figures among his first recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as former New York Yankees slugger Babe Ruth, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and nine-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Alan Page are set to be honored.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest honor for a civilian. A ceremony to award the medals has been scheduled for Friday.

Ruth, Staubach and Page are all Hall of Famers in their respective sports. Ruth is considered one of the greatest hitters of all time, Staubach led the Cowboys to a pair of Super Bowl titles, and Page was the NFL MVP in 1971 with the Minnesota Vikings before going on to a legal career that included more than two decades as a judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Medals will also go to Miriam Adelson, a doctor and wife of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a Republican donor, and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, who is retiring after more than 41 years in the U.S. Senate. Trump will also posthumously recognize the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Elvis Presley.